


Ghost in the Attic

by 78meg9



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Found Love, Implied mental illness, M/M, Reincarnation, ghost - Freeform, ghost story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 23:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14725716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/78meg9/pseuds/78meg9
Summary: Lovino's always had some trouble with himself, but when he moves in with his brother and his brother's boyfriend, things go from bad to worse. If he had to guess, he would say it was the ghost.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I've been having trouble writing recently so I thought I would move my favorite fic from fanfiction to ao3. I even removed the spelling errors <3

Moving in with Feliciano and his bastard German was not Lovino's idea of fun. In fact, it was a nightmare he had once.

But despite how downright unpleasant the very prospect was, Lovino really didn't have much of a choice. He had nowhere to go, no place to live, and frankly living on his own was a problem in itself.

Grumbling, Lovino dragged his things up the steps.

Two suitcases and a vase were all he had to his name. As he passed an open window, he felt a strong urge to chuck the ugly piece of porcelain as far as possible, but he couldn't bring himself to actually go through with the notion. It had been the only thing his grandfather had left him. Sighing, he trudged on.

The entire house had a musty air to it, giving the impression it hasn't been lived in for ages. According to his brother, who relayed the fact from the realtor, the house really hadn't been occupied for as long as thirty years. Feliciano and his partner, Ludwig, were the first to buy it, and Lovino was trapped along for the ride.

The entire building and the grounds that came with it were overrun or just rundown. Ludwig had sworn he checked to make sure the floors were completely stable, as well as the infrastructure, but Lovino took no chances. Every step was as light as he could make it and he held his measly possessions away from the walls. The last thing he needed was to bump something and take the entire house down.

Finally making it to his designated room, Lovino carefully opened the door. Inside was a plain bed and simple furniture; the sight was oddly welcome. After throwing the suitcases on the bed (and caution to the wind it seemed), Lovino set the vase on the nightstand.

"Now it's home," He said aloud as if the walls could hear him. "Just fucking perfect"

"Lovino!" Feliciano called from the first floor. "I made pasta! Want some?"

"Of course, idiot!" He called back. "I'll be down as fast as I can without the floors falling through!" Lovino cast one last look around his new room. He wondered how long it would be until he would have to leave again.

In a moment he was back in the hallway, on his way downstairs. But something caught his eye. It was the window. He had sworn was open last time he checked, but now the glass was firmly closed, the grime coating it so thick he could see his reflection. Biting his lip, Lovino tried to think of an explanation. "Maybe the wind had pushed it?"

He hadn't realized he had spoken aloud until he heard a bark of laughter behind him. Spinning around, Lovino expected to see Feliciano, or maybe Ludwig, but there was no one. The hall was as empty as it could be.

The emptiness unnerved him. The sudden silence reminded him of something he couldn't place. It didn't take long before his nerves could take no more and he fled.

By the time Lovino had thrown himself into the kitchen, the chuckling had long stopped. It took hours of coaxing and eventual bribery to get him to return upstairs again.

[=]

Exactly one week later, a man appeared in the hall.

It was middle of the night and having dueled with his thirst for hours, Lovino decided to give in and go fetch himself a glass from downstairs. It wasn't like he was sleeping that night anyhow. His frequent nightmares had become more persistent.

He was halfway down the hallway when a door at the end of the hall -one of the doors that no one in the house ever used- slammed shut.

Much to Lovino's credit, he did not scream. He screeched and flung backward because it was the middle of the goddamn night- but he did not scream.

He did scream, however, when he saw him.

The man was near transparent, with curly brown hair and a wide, almost sad smile.

But despite Lovino's worst fears, he did nothing. He only stood in the moonlight watching Lovino as he lay sprawled out and paralyzed on the floor. Seconds turned to hours as he was stared down. Old, green eyes scrutinized him from the face of a man who couldn't be older than twenty-five.

Mouth dry, Lovino struggled to find his voice. "Wh- who are you?"

A smile was the response. The man took a small step toward him, looking as if was really going to respond.

But at that moment, the cavalry arrived.

"What happened?" Feliciano demanded from behind the frying-pan wielding Ludwig. Both stood at the mouth of the stairs, the latter looking as serious as one could in his underwear at three in the morning.

"There was someone down the hall!" Lovino shouted, gesturing to where the man had stood. Emptiness was the only thing to back up his words and Lovino groaned upon realizing how crazy he must sound.

"There's nothing there," Feliciano said, stating the obvious.

"But there was!"

Ludwig, ever the sensible one, reached over the brothers, hitting the switch on the far wall of the small hallway. Light flooded the are and illuminated nothing but three doors and a window. Ludwig took no chance though, marching down the pathway and flinging open door after door to inspect each and every room. There was no one to be seen.

Feliciano's knowing look was sickening. Lovino growled, pushing himself away from the sad look in his brother's eyes. Yet despite his cold gesture, his cheeks still warmed as Feliciano grabbed his hands.

"No no, Lovino- maybe you were right! Maybe there really was someone, and he slipped out the window before we got here!" His words felt empty even to him, but he soldiered on. "How about we get new locks for all the windows and doors? That would be sure to make you feel better, won't it Lovino?"

Lovino grunted, feeling his cheeks burn redder still. He was not a little kid. "There really was someone there, I'm not making it up!"

Feliciano's grip tightened. "I know you aren't. It's just... late. Maybe you're tired! Let's all go back to sleep and tomorrow it'll be all better, I promise."

Lovino tried not to feel written off, but it was hard with the look Ludwig was trying not to send him. He clumsily tugged away from Feliciano's hold, clamoring to his feet.

"There really was someone!" Lovino growled. It was a worthless defense but he stuck to it. He walked back to his room, unable to work up anything else before slipping past the door and slamming it shut.

[=]

Morning broke slowly. Or rather at glacier's pace to Lovino, who was still unable to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes it felt like that man would be there again, watching him. It took sometime before he worked up the courage to get out of bed and open the door to the hall. Taking special effort to avoid looking at where the man had appeared before, Lovino dashed out the door and down the stairs, into the kitchen which was always his first and foremost destination.

Feliciano, upon seeing him enter, took no time before yapping his ear off.

"Lovino, Lovino! Want some coffee?" Lovino grunted, which was enough response for the man as he slid a mug down the table to his brother. "So I was thinking we could go the market today and look for a locksmith-"

"No way" Lovino replied, taking a long sip and enjoying the instant burst of caffeine.

"Oh come on Lovino, it could be fun. Besides, you've never seen what it's like around here- soooo pretty! I mean it's no Italy but... you're not listening to me" Feliciano frowned slightly, dancing over to his brother. It took a minute of waving about before he even looked up from whatever was especially interesting on the counter.

"There will be tomatoes..." Feliciano tried.

Lovino's response was immediate and expected. "We leave in an hour"

[=]

It took a very long walk and a bus ride to get to the bustling marketplace. By the time they arrived, the sun was already high in the sky. People busied themselves all around, going from peaceful to aggressive as Feliciano stopped suddenly and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.

"So!" He announced. "The locksmith's should be here somewhere. A man by the name of Mr. Ox...erwhaddawhudda. I have no idea how to pronounce that. Anyway, he's the only locksmith in town so it shouldn't be too hard"

Lovino looked around to the many different shops lining them from all sides. It did not take long to locate the one with smoke rising from the roof and the unmistakeable clanging of an anvil. He pointed toward the general location, pulling his brother roughly by his sleeve. "That way"

They pushed their way through the crowd, who was more than welcome to have them move out of the way. Approaching the entrance, Feliciano knocked loudly on the stall's side. "Hello!" He chirped. "Anyone here?"

The clanging stopped. A man straightened up from where he had been hunched over a molten piece of metal. He spared the two a glance before saying something in a language foreign to the brothers. Immediately, another man popped out from behind the far back curtain.

"Hello!" He greeted, quickly sticking out his hand to Feliciano, who shook it enthusiastically, and to Lovino, who quickly stuck his hands in his pockets. "Welcome to the local blacksmith's. My name is Tino, and Berwald is the one toiling over the iron. What can we do for you folks?"

Feliciano brightened at the greeting, still clutching the poor man's hand in his palm. "I'm Feliciano, and this is my brother Lovino. It is nice to meet you. Today we're actually looking to get the old locks on our home replaced. Can you do that as well as, um, whatever he's doing?"

"Of course!" Tino replied. "But I'm afraid we must know dimensions and sizes before anything can be replaced."

"Oh! I do actually! Ludwig wrote it down..." Feliciano patted his pockets, jabbering on. Lovino rolled his eyes as the measurements were found on the scrap of paper already in his hand.

Tino looked over the paper carefully. He nodded. "These seem to work just fine. If you follow me to the back, I'll show you our most popular wares"

Feliciano nodded too, easily trailing after the blond man as he began moving to the back end of the store. Lovino was left alone with Berwald, who was now giving him an odd look. It was against his will that he began to shrink into himself. Damnit, why had Feliciano left him alone?

Instead of returning to whatever it was he was working on, the man took a step towards Lovino. Lovino, in turn, took a step back. After a moment of a staredown that reminded him more and more of the apparition from the night before, Lovino broke down. "What?!" He cried.

The man froze. His expression was still unreadable but if Lovino were to guess he would have to say he looked the slightest bit flustered. "You live in the Fernandez Mansion, do you not?"

"What's it to you?" Lovino demanded, more than slightly relieved the man had stopped advancing.

"There is something you should know about that house" He continued, his serious expression never fading.

To say Lovino was intrigued would be an understatement. Ever since he had stepped foot inside the place, he knew something was different. But so far, there hadn't been anyone to address his concerns, "What?"

He breathed out. Berwald sat heavily in the chair next to his anvil, nearly breaking the tense mood that had settled over the little workshop. His next words remedied the shift soon enough, dragging the tone darker and darker as he spoke. "There used to be a family that lived in that house. A boy and a girl, their parents, and a couple of servants."

Lovino waited with baited breath. He got the sense Berwald rarely talked much and was near shocked when he kept going.

"One day, a fire broke out. It ran along the trees and swallowed the house full. That's why the infrastructure is so shaky, no one around here was ever willing to fix it much. The girl and her parents got out fine, along with most of the servants. But the boy- well everyone whispers how close he was to the youngest servant of the house. When the servant boy never emerged from the flames, he went after him"

Berwald stopped his tale to take a shaky breath. "I know he's still there. Still desperate to find him. Neither of the bodies was ever found"

Upon the end of the story, the atmosphere became heavy. Lovino tried to think of the implications of what Berwald had just said. "You mean to tell me" he stuttered out. "That there's a ghost in that house?"

Berwald said nothing. The silence dragged on.

"That's fucking crazy." Lovino finally decided, ignoring how easily the apparition of the man could have been explained. If he fell for such a stupid thing now, he might never find a sense of mind he was always desperately searching for. "No, stop it. Stop looking at me dammit!"

His voice began to reach near hysteria. He couldn't even tell if Berwald was even looking his way anymore or not. "Stop it!" He began to hyperventilate.

"Lovino!" A new voice shouted, bringing him harshly back to reality.

Lovino spun around to see his brother and Mr. Tino side by side, back in the shop. Feliciano ran to his side, grabbing his shoulder and asking if he was alright.

When Lovino made no response, Feliciano immediately began apologizing to Mr. Berwald and Mr. Tino simultaneously. "I'm so sorry! He didn't mean to, well whatever it was he did! Please don't be angry!"

Mr. Tino opened his mouth in reply, but Berwald beat him to it. "There is no need to apologize. The locks will be fitted tomorrow at the latest"

Feliciano made a squeaking noise but decided to take his blessings and dragged Lovino out for a quick exit. "Ciao! Grazie!" He called as they disappeared into the crowd once more.

Once they were a safe distance away, Feliciano tried for an explanation. "Why were you shouting?" he asked his brother.

"I, I don't know," Lovino answered honestly. With every step, he felt his feet become heavy with dread. He didn't want to go home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two- Lovino finds the truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to the sweetest human alive aka panni <333 your long comments give me life!!!

Dreaming was a skill granted to angels by angels. Namely to Feliciano, if his normal dinner conversation was any indication. But as for Lovino, he had nightmares to look forward to.

Once they had arrived home, it was late enough for dinner and bed, and bed meant sleep, which of course meant nightmares.

This particular night was nothing special. The same damn dream that always plagued him, never changing or ending.

Everything, everything was burning. Lovino sat up in his bed- except it wasn't his bed. He wasn't even in his room. He swung his legs over the side, realizing with a start that his feet didn't even have enough room to dangle. The bed was just a mattress on the floor.

But he had more pressing matters to deal with. The walls were on fire, and he knew from experience the door would be blocked by flames.

He couldn't let that stop him though. If he died now he would just wake up again in the same place, and the entire scene would replay itself.

The doorknob burned his hands raw as he swung the door open. Soon he was running down the hall, trying desperately to find a way out.

The air was sweltering hot, as it always was. Fear, no matter how often he felt it, gripped Lovino as he ran blindly down the corridor after corridor to a house that he now called home. There was no way out.

With dread, Lovino realized the flames were going to chase him to the top story of the house. The stairs were on fire and in a last act of desperation, he ran to the attic. From there, there was no escape. Somewhere far away, a voice called his name. A name that Lovino had learned was what he was called, here in this nightmare. It was as familiar as it was foreign.

"Romano!" The voice screamed.

Whoever was coming for him. But he knew the fire would reach him first. It was too hot and his hands and body burned.

But there was something different about this time. Something cool caressed his forehead, a welcome touch that felt wrong somehow in this burning world. With a jolt, Lovino woke up.

The first thing he noticed was not sweat-drenched sheets, nor the moonlight spilling in from the window. It was bright green eyes peering directly at him, comforting in ways Lovino could never explain.

But no one in the house had green eyes.

Fear stronger than in his dream consumed him as he tried to shake his body from its paralysis. It was useless and Lovino was forced to be calm as the man sitting next to him on the bed continued his gentle ministrations to his forehead. Against his will, the touch began to feel welcome.

"Who- Who are you?" Lovino stuttered out from a mouth that refused to operate above a whisper.

"Don't you remember, Roma?" The man said, smiling. "I'm Antonio. You look so grown up now"

Roma... Romano. That voice. He was the one in the dream. "I'm not... I'm not Rom-"

Lovino's words fell short as Antonio's head bent close to his own, and soft, barely there, lips pressed against his.

The contact lasted only for a brief second. The cold numbness more than welcome after the flames that controlled his dreams, but the guilt that trapped him as Antonio pulled away and smiled at him was enough to ruin the ever so small burst of joy he felt for reasons he didn't understand.

Whoever Antonio thought he was, was wrong. He was Lovino, not Romano. This happiness was not his to keep.

Not to mention- being kissed against his will by a ghost who took fun in fucking with him did not bode well.

"No" Lovino yelled, sitting up with relief that he was able to. "Stop! I'm not Romano! Can't you hear me?"

Antonio gave him a strange look. "What are you talking about, Roma? Don't you recognize me?"

"I" Lovino growled. "am not Romano"

The quizzical look that was sent his way was soon replaced by something else. One that Lovino couldn't place. "You're being silly," Antonio said. "I came to tell you I'm sorry, and to say how happy I am to see you again. Surely you can't still be mad; It's been such a long time!"

His hand reached for him, but Lovino jerked away. Antonio frowned, vanishing from where he sat on the bed and reappearing on the other side of the room.

"What the fuck?" Lovino spat. "Why would you be sorry? And I'm not Romano, nor am I mad!"

"You... you aren't mad?" Antonio looked shocked. His eyes finally morphed into an expression Lovino knew well. Anger. "Then you aren't Romano."

It didn't take much more than the extra bite in his words to have Lovino draw the blankets up close around him. Energy seemed to whip the air in the room into a frenzy, a blast of wind blowing despite the closed and locked windows.

"You don't belong here. This is my house! You need to leave!" The door blew open in accordance with the angry command, slamming into the wall and shaking the room. "Why are you here? Leave me alone! I need to find him. I need to find him!"

It didn't take a genius to figure out the ghost was talking about Romano. It also took someone much braver than Lovino to stay in the room as the wind picked up tenfold, knocking over the vase and shattering the accursed thing.

Lovino lept from the bed, running down the hall much like he had in his dream. He didn't stop until he had run into Feliciano and held down by an unfortunate Ludwig.

Lovino barely registered he was crying until his brother did his best to wipe the tears away.

"What happened?" Feliciano demanded, trying to get an answer from a sobbing Lovino. "Lovi, what's wrong? What happened?"

"I can't stay here" Lovino whispered pitifully. "I can't stay here, I can't stay anywhere"

"What? Lovino you aren't making sense!"

"I want to leave, Feli. I want to leave, please, please let me leave"

Feliciano barely held on as Lovino slumped to the floor, released from Ludwig's hold and assuming a depressed mess on the linoleum. He shot a desperate look at Ludwig, who was already on his way to the phone.

"Alright, Lovino" Feliciano soothed. "We can get you a hotel, somewhere else to stay. But please, you have to tell me what's wrong"

"Okay" Lovino whimpered, his pride damned and his wit at an end. "Once we're away from here, I promise. Just please"

[=]

Feliciano refused to let the episode go, trailing after Lovino and all but attached himself to his side. There was a room open at the local hotel, and Feliciano volunteered to stay with him through the rest of the night.

Both brothers stayed tangled up in the sheets until the morning light like they were still children scared after a thunderstorm. Before they fell asleep, however, Lovino explained as much as he dared to Feliciano about the dreams and about Antonio.

Feliciano had his doubts, but the explanation was an indication of how even these new living arrangements just weren't going to work. It made him sad, and even sadder still to have his brother look so worn down, but he knew he had to make some changes again.

He didn't want to send Lovino back to where he was staying before. The hospital was such a depressing place for him. He needed fresh air, not blank walls. Maybe the temporary hotel was enough for now.

A few weeks passed, and Lovino didn't experience the same nightmare night after night for the first time. The conflict in his head settled considerably.

It was the last day he was going to be spending in the town. Feliciano had arranged to find him another place to stay. He didn't know the details, nor did he care. Because as he toured the market alone for the first time in a while, Lovino decided that this was going to end.

He had mulled it over, again and again, and he knew that whatever problems that caused him to constantly be at odds with the world was somehow connected to Antonio and that house. And no matter how terrified he was to go back there, he knew that he had to.

But first, he needed to make a quick detour.

The constant hammering in the locksmith's refused to cease as Lovino strolled into the shop for one final time. He only had to stand by for a moment before Berwald noticed him.

"What else do you know about the Fernandez house?"

Berwald didn't look surprised in the least at the sudden question. He set down his hammer and looked up. "There are two ghosts that live there"

Lovino gave him an expectant look. "One of them I've met, as I'm sure you've heard from the chatter around town. What about the other?"

"The attic," Berwald said.

Lovino wasted no time after that, racing from the shop and flagging down the nearest bus. He all but ran the rest of the way, skidding to a stop outside the large manor he had been avoiding for weeks. Feliciano and Ludwig weren't home. He had to do this alone.

The large house loomed over him, empty and silent, as Lovino made his way to the front door. There was never a louder sound than the doorknob turning in his hand. Finding the courage, Lovino swung open the door and cautiously stepped inside.

Everything was darkened by the fading light of the falling sun. Furniture sat abandoned and eerie, covered by the white, dust-resistant sheets Ludwig always insisted on.

Lovino cursed him as the entire house became all the more freaky by his need for cleanliness.

He knew Antonio was around somewhere. He feared the repercussions of returning, but he needed to do this. He began his journey through the foyer to the staircase.

Somewhere above him, a floorboard creaked.

He tried to calm himself. Ghosts didn't walk, thus they didn't make floorboards creak. Far off in the kitchen, a glass bowl shattered.

Lovino shot up the stairs faster than he had ever flown down them, closing his eyes as he was forced to turn the sharp corridor. Anything could be waiting for him down the hall.

It was pointless to keep them closed though, and he was eventually forced to pry them open. Every door lining the hall was flung open, clothing and glass shards strewn about as if someone had thrown a fit. Or was looking for him. He had to walk past every darkened doorway to finally reach the end, convinced that with every step something was waiting to grab him.

Dangling from the ceiling was a cord that allowed the attic stairs to be pulled down. Lovino reached for it and pulled it taut, praying harder than he ever had.

The stairs dropped with a louder clatter, alerting all to his presence. There was no point in hiding it now. Once the stairs were secure, Lovino began his ascent into the dark.

It was near pitch dark in the stuffy attic, as hotter than Lovino could imagine it to be. There was strewn apart furniture, broken dolls and cobwebs in every corner. The only light was a soft glow from the other side of the room.

Despite every muscle in his body begging him to stop, Lovino moved closer. The soft glow took a shape, a hunched over figure of a boy. He was crying.

Whatever he was crying over was guarded with his ghostly body, and Lovino could not get a good view. Quietly, he cleared his throat.

The boy froze. Almost immediately he looked up sharply, freezing Lovino in place with his hardened eyes. But the daggers tearing into his soul was not what stopped him. It was the scars that marred the boy's face. A face that was identical to his own.

Lovino couldn't move, shocked at his mirror image.

"The fuck are you?" The boy demanded, crossing his arms in an attempt to look menacing. It wasn't hard in this setting.

"The fuck are you?" Lovino spat back, feeling his not-reflection burn holes through his skin with his glare.

The boy looked affronted with how readily Lovino responded. "It doesn't matter"

Though an argument was waiting on the tip of the tongue, Lovino knew he had to persevere. "You're Romano, aren't you?"

The glow intensified around the auburn-haired boy. "So what if I am. What's it to you?"

What was it to him? For as long as he had known, Lovino had been plagued with images of a life that wasn't his. Years of identity crises and questioning who he was revolved around unresolved issues between two ghosts he had never met. Lovino took a deep breath and continued.

"Someone is looking for you, and I think I need to help him find you"

Romano stiffened. "Looking for… me? Antonio" He broke off in a reverent whisper, looking sad and excited at the same time. "Antonio that idiot! Looking for me?! He already found me... he already found me!"

His shouting got louder, and the still air of the room began to move. Lovino began to grow even more nervous than before, fearing something like what had happened with Antonio would happen again. But before he had the mind to move, Romano vanished from where he was standing and reappeared closer. His sudden movements revealed what he had been hiding.

Two skeletons sat atop one another, the larger laid over the smaller as if shielding him from something. Burnt, tattered clothing of a servant's attire and an old-fashioned overcoat were easily identified. Lovino's eyes widened as he recognized them for who they were.

They were the burnt bodies of Romano and Antonio.

He dropped to his knees to inspect them up close, hyper-aware of how the ghost of Romano stood guarded beside him.

What the ghost had said... what both ghosts had screamed began to make sense in his mind. Antonio was looking for Romano. Romano was waiting for Antonio to realize he had already been found. It all made sense, the answer was clear now more than ever.

So when Antonio vaporized into the attic, looking more livid than Lovino knew he should ever be, he was ready for him.

Before anyone had a chance to speak, between both shocked faces of the dead that for the first time got to see one another in years, Lovino stepped in, hardened over years of waiting. "On the night of the fire, what happened?"

The question was directed at Antonio. He answered gradually, taking his time to get over his shock at being addressed so harshly. Tch, he should have been expecting something like that from Lovino of all people. "It was... dark."

"The street lamps weren't lit, yet I could see everything in my bedroom in a strange orange light. I, I ran out when my mother started screaming. Everyone was outside except for Romano. No one would go look for him, so I went instead. But- but I never found him. I've been looking ever since"

Lovino looked up at Antonio, staring directly into his eyes. "Look" He demanded, moving away from the skeletons. "You did find him. You protected him all you could. There was nothing you could do though, fire isn't a force to be reckoned with."

"I- I did?" Antonio asked, hope creeping into his voice.

"You did," Romano answered, walking close to where he stood. The authority in which he grabbed Antonio's hands shocked them both, but he never faltered. "I ran because I was scared. When you came back for me, I wasn't scared anymore."

"But, I thought you would have been mad at me for not saving you, for letting us both die-" Antonio stuttered out before Romano cut him off.

"I never cared. As long as we were together" Romano linked both their hands, bringing their faces close. "I can't ever be really mad at you. Haven't you learned by now?"

Antonio laughed, an honest laugh that seemed to suit him more than the angry look he had smothered his features with. "As long as we're together" He echoed.

The pair began to fade. A white light, cleaner than the one Romano had been shrouded in, surrounded them both. It took them away from the old, dusty attic, and to a new life somewhere else.

Lovino watched them disappear, releasing a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He was... free.

Maybe he would never know how they were connected, or why his life was always so overshadowed by the story of two lost lovers, but the peace he had always craved was enough for that moment.

Slowly, he rose. He promised himself to tell Feliciano about the bodies to make sure they were given a proper burial. But at that moment, he had a new life to begin himself.

[=]

The train that was to take him away was right on time. Both Feliciano and Ludwig came to see him off, and it was happy tears Lovino shed as he hugged his brother tightly.

"Excuse me?" A voice asked as the train pulled up to the stop. "Is a Lovino Vargas here?"

"That's me" Lovino announced, bidding a final farewell to Feliciano and walking up to the new man that agreed to house him. The gracious man smiled brightly, waving despite the close proximity between the two. His brown hair was unruly and his sense of fashion fell easily into the country bumpkin category, but his green eyes were bright and kind.

"Hola!" He chirped. "My name is Antonio Hernandez Carriedo. But I don't mind just Antonio, or Mr. Tomato if you're one of my students!"

Lovino gave a small smile his own. Perhaps maybe, he thought, this might end up as my home.


End file.
